


A Day Off

by i_cant_writex



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Or can be read as, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Slash, Sick Fic, baybe, just completely all, or - Freeform, rick is so soft in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21874774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_cant_writex/pseuds/i_cant_writex
Summary: Morty is feeling under the weather, and Rick decides he can be nice just this once.--Just a cute and fluffy sickfic
Relationships: Rick Sanchez/Morty Smith
Comments: 8
Kudos: 195





	A Day Off

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you sm to my beta and muse @bakugou !

At this point in his adventures with Rick, Morty knew the complexity in their relationship that others might see at first glance was just a front. If you peeled back the layers of banter and power struggles, it wasn’t hard to see that Rick was the smart, snarky leader, and Morty was the follower who was there to be made fun of and put into dire situations, only to be saved at the last minute by the lead character - Rick. Sure, sometimes they switched it up a little, Morty figuring out how to get out of a situation alive after being left behind, or Rick stumbling - just slightly - and Morty taking the opportunity to be the hero, even if only for a second. But the normal way things went was almost cliche with its patterns and predictability. At the end of the day, Morty was the silly sidekick who was mocked for his perceived shortcomings; that’s why he did his best to keep anything that might be seen as an imperfection under wraps.

What does any of that philosophy mean in reality? It meant Morty was sick, feeling-like-he’d-been-hit-by-a-world-destroyer sick, and he would die from complications before he’d ever mention it to Rick. 

Did the scientist have some way to cure him instantly from whatever he was suffering through, be it the common cold or alien AIDs? Yeah, probably. Would he also mock Morty for hours before he even considered relinquishing that cure? That was almost more certain than Rick ever actually handing over the medicine.

It wasn’t Morty’s first time around the block, as far as getting all kinds of alien disease was concerned. But this time, it really just felt like he had come down with a bad case of the human flu. He was freezing and drenched in sweat at the same time, burrowing under blankets though he was sure he was probably running a fever. Even the thought of getting out of bed, for any reason, was the worst thing he could possibly imagine. 

Of course, that made it the perfect timing for Rick to burst through his bedroom door. The light from the hallway filtered into the otherwise dark room, prompting Morty to futilely pull the blankets over his head, hoping that just this once, Rick would get the hint and leave. 

He had no such luck. The scientist just stepped further into the room, speaking far too loudly about ‘some adventure he needed help right that second, come on Morty, get up, lives depended on it’, or something like that. Morty just curled up into a smaller ball, dizzy from moving and head pounding from the noise. 

“Go away, Rick, I-I-I can’t help you out t-today ok? Just -- just leave me alone.” Morty said miserably from under his pile of blankets. 

As usual, Rick paid his protests no mind, yanking back Morty’s only protection against the outside world, and Rick himself, already ranting about how ‘there wouldn’t be a tomorrow if Morty didn’t get his ass in gear-’. 

In the abrupt silence that followed Rick’s rant suddenly cutting off, Morty peered through his fingers - his new defense against the scant light - almost expecting Rick to be dead, or under attack, or something. Rick didn’t just...stop in the middle of a sentence, especially not when he was in the middle of lecturing Morty. Seeing no immediate threat, Morty turned his puzzled attention back to his grandfather. The elder was peering down at him with a look that could have almost been concern on any other face. 

“You look like shit, Morty,” Rick commented dryly, expression blank as if he was trying to come up with the normal human protocol for dealing with this kind of situation. Morty normally tried to avoid interacting with Rick whenever he got really sick, because he didn’t want the teasing or the elevated risk of injury when inevitably dragged along on an adventure despite not being at his best, and it was clear that Rick didn’t really know what to expect from Morty when he was in this condition (not by Rick’s own hand, anyway). 

“Yeah, thanks, Rick.” Morty replied, tone equally dry. “I think -- I think I’m sick or something, so can you -- will you just leave me alone to like, recover or whatever?”

As usual, Rick seemed to ignore every word that came out of Morty’s mouth. Before the younger had even finished talking, Rick was stepping even closer, pressing inside Morty’s personal bubble with zero regard for Morty’s weak protests. Expecting more ranting about how he was weak for letting a silly little cold keep him away from adventuring or something along those lines, Morty nearly jumped out of his skin when Rick kept his mouth shut, placing a cool hand against Morty’s forehead. 

Rick couldn’t stay quiet for long, of course, and he was back to talking a mile a minute almost as soon as his hand found it’s target. “You def-f-finitely have a fever.” Rick said, (stating the obvious, Morty thought bitterly), dragging out the word in a way that was just annoying enough to grate against Morty’s headache.

“Yeah, clearly, so you’ll just -- just have to find someone else to d-drag along today.” Morty said definitively, curling up into a tighter ball, tossing his head to get rid of Rick’s oddly persistent hand. He was already shivering without his pile of blankets, and he really just wanted to take a nap.

Rick looked down at the sick boy with mixed feelings. A large part of him wanted to do as Morty suggested, and leave to take care of his business on his own. If it were a few months ago, he would have already been out the door and on his way off the planet. But a small, nagging part of himself couldn’t help but want to take care of the pitiful figure curled up in front of him. He was never one to baby his Morty, and tended to scoff at the Ricks who did. How would the kid learn to be self-sufficient if he wasn’t forced to fend for himself? He knew there were Ricks out there that didn’t even bring their Morty’s on their ‘dangerous’ adventures, and that idea alone made him cringe. But that small voice inside him, that was more often than not drowned by whatever substance he had been indulging in, was strangely loud tonight, reminding him that there was a difference between keeping his Morty in a bubble and helping him out when he was sick. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to go a little easy - as much as the thought made most of his mind shiver - on the kid, just this once.

Hating to be uncertain for any length of time, Rick quickly made up his mind. It never even crossed his thoughts to ask if Morty even wanted his ‘help’, because of course he did, why wouldn’t he? This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, after all. 

Crouching down to Morty’s level, Rick gently shook his shoulder until the younger reluctantly opened his eyes again. Before Morty could ask another annoyed question, Rick beat him to it. “Have you -- did you take any drugs yet? For -- for the fever.” Rick asked.

Morty blinked at the uncharacteristically gentle question, coming from someone he never thought would ask after his well-being. “Uhh, no, not really.” Morty replied slowly, having to first wrack his dazed memory. He had just woken up feeling sick, and hadn’t really moved since then. 

Rick rolled his eyes at the response, standing back to his full height. Morty assumed he was going to leave, either to get meds or to leave Morty to his suffering in peace. That assumption couldn’t have been more wrong. The scientist bent over again and easily scooped Morty, and his pile of blankets, up into deceptively strong arms. Rick couldn’t help the stroke his ego got, or the smug look that spread across his face, as Morty looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes. 

“What, you think -- you thought I was gonna let my sick grandson waste away all alone? Dumb idiot can’t -- couldn’t even take medicine by himself.” Rick said as he maneuvered through the doorframe and down the silent hallway, Morty still in his arms. Thanks to his cybernetic enhancements, he could easily carry much more weight than the teen in his arms, but still, Morty was awfully light. Rick made a mental note to possibly do something about that later, adding it to the constantly growing mental list he had of ‘things to fix about Morty’. 

Morty had long since learned not to fight it when Rick set his mind to something, so aside from his initial shock at suddenly being parted with his bed, he decided he had no choice but to accept this sudden transportation and hope it would lead to some positive outcome for himself. Leaning into Rick’s chest as the elder walked, Morty couldn’t contain the silly little smile that spilled onto his face. It was such a rare treat to be treated gently; to see Rick peel back his ‘emotionless objective unfeeling scientist’ layers just a little. 

They reached their destination far too quickly for Morty’s liking. He let out a small ‘oof’, mostly in surprise, as he was set down abruptly. It took him less than a second to figure out where he was; this bed was nearly as familiar to him as his own. Now why they were in Rick’s room was much more of a mystery. The man himself didn’t seem inclined to answer that question any time soon, already busy with something across the room. 

Hardly having the energy to stay upright, much less figure anything out, Morty decided the usual method of just accepting things until Rick bothered to explain was once again going to work. Still cocooned in his blanket pile, Morty flopped over, letting gravity do its job. Pressing his face against the rough blanket under him, Morty breathed in deeply, or as deeply as his clogged nose would allow anyway. He was immediately overcome by the familiar smell of Rick, pine and machine oil and always an underlying bite of alcohol. Snuggling deeper into his own blankets while simultaneously making himself comfortable against the bed, Morty hardly noticed Rick crossing the room until the elder was sitting down beside him. 

“Make yourself at -- at home I guess, can’t even leave you alone for -- for ten seconds huh?” Rick scoffed, though his tone was good-natured. “Sit back up for a second.” He commanded, already manhandling Morty upright again, just as the boy had gotten comfortable. Morty opened his mouth to voice his complaints, and found said mouth quickly full of a terrible tasting, thick liquid. Sputtering, he nearly choked as Rick tilted his head back and encouraged him to swallow what was in his mouth. Morty managed to get most of the surprise goo down, but some inevitably spilled out of his mouth as he coughed air back into his lungs. Rick rolled his eyes at the dramatic display, offering a consolatory pat on the back. 

“What the -- what was that?” Morty wheezed between coughs, sticking his tongue out as if that would somehow remove the terrible taste lingering in his mouth. 

“Medicine, dumbass.” Rick said. “Should knock out most -- most of the symptoms in a few hours, and tomorrow -- you should wake up tomorrow feeling fine, assuming you just have the flu. I figured you weren’t gonna’ let me run a bunch of tests, so I took my -- my best guess.” He clarified, upon seeing Morty’s annoyed look. “Until then, you should probably just -- just sleep it off, or something. Listen, I’m a scientist, not a doctor.” 

Morty blinked at Rick as his brain slowly processed everything the man just said. Finally getting to a point of comprehension, he smiled shyly at the elder, flopping back over, this time making sure to let his head land in Rick’s lap. Wiggling around until his face was nearly pressed into Rick’s stomach, he murmured a soft ‘thank you’. He didn’t know why Rick was being so uncharacteristically kind, but he was going to make sure to fully enjoy it while it lasted.

Rick smoothed a hand over Morty’s forehead, pushing his hair back from his sweaty face. “You’re welcome, dumbass.” He replied, voice fond and gentle in a way it rarely was. There were a thousand words unspoken between them in that moment, but that little exchange was enough to express many of the sentiments they couldn’t bring themselves to say outright.

Rick let himself relax, just for a moment, hand combing through Morty’s hair with gentle fingers as he looked down at the sleepy boy, laying so trustingly against him. He knew, without a doubt in that moment that he would not hesitate to give up far too much for the sake of his Morty. He knew he was far too attached, and it would only end up hurting them both some day. But in this gentle, quiet moment, he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

Watching Morty drift into fever-wrought sleep, Rick couldn’t stop himself from whispering a few dangerous words, pressing a soft kiss to Morty’s forehead. A sleepy smile drifted across Morty’s face and Rick knew he had been heard. The momentary panic he felt from his second of emotional vulnerability, though, quickly became just another thing he couldn’t quite bring himself to care about in this perfect little moment. The world, running by outside his door without care for who or what it ran over, could wait a few minutes more.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I was able to keep them in character! These two are so hard to write fluff for but they need more of it uwu. Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts, praise or criticism!


End file.
